Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 174
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IMMERSE
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CHRONICLES
2:29-46
will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions
you saw as you lay on your bed.
“While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events.
He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen. And it is
not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your
dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart.
“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. The head of the statue was
made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were
bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked
clay. As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human
hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. The whole
statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold.
Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing
floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain
that covered the whole earth.
“That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. Your
Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you
sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. He has made you the ruler over
all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under
your control. You are the head of gold.
“But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to
yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third
kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world. Following that
kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will
smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes
everything it strikes. The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron
and baked clay, showing that this kingdom will be divided. Like iron mixed
with clay, it will have some of the strength of iron. But while some parts
of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay. This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen
themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage.
But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix.
“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the
rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to
pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was
showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and
its meaning is certain.”
Then King Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down before Daniel and
worshiped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn
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